vintage Archives • FAUX REAL THO

How to Identify Sterling Silver Jewelry

Sterling silver is a common metal for jewelry because it ages well, is easy to manipulate, and is more affordable than gold or platinum. By definition, sterling silver is silver that is 925/1000 parts silver, or 92.5% silver. Pure silver (99% +) is too soft for jewelry-making so the highest silver content in jewelry is usually…

A History of Creepy Dolls

When I first started going to auctions, I accidentally bid on and won a creepy doll. At an estate auction, I didn’t like the cut of some lady’s jib, and bid her up on a random item to be a jerk and give her a hard time. This is a common, if ill-advised, auction practice —…

How to Identify Stanhope Jewelry

Several months ago, I lucked out and found a large stash of Stanhope novelty pieces at a garage sale. The collection I had to choose from was mostly religious icons, like tiny paintings of saints, the Lord’s Prayer, and other iconography hidden in keychains and cross pendants. The naughty Stanhopes, however are highly collectible —…

Hilda the Pin-Up: Chunky but Funky

The allure of Hilda is not that she’s sexually available, but that she is active, curious, adventurous, and unconscious about her zaftig body. She had a full and romantic (if fictional) life, was kind of a goober, and possessed the magnetic, sexy goodwill that comes from living a life of happiness, much like many of…

Free Vintage Clip Art!: 170 Vintage, Retro, Mid-Century Fair Use Images for Download

For many years, I designed all my personal sites with a 1950’s era, mid-century vibe. During this time I amassed a huge collection of free, fair-use, mid-century clip art. Behold, free vintage clip art for you to use on your own projects! The following may include space references, pro-cigarette ads, martinis, kitsch, weird babies and/or Ronald…

Window Shopping

Out and about this week, I had the opportunity to drop by a handful of charming local shops. American Treasures and One Earth Gallery This Lafayette staple carries a variety of Native-American and international fair trade items, including a huge array of hand-crafted gold and silver jewelry. Genevee’s StudioThis full-service salon also has a vintage…